Description

Ciel nosurge is the first game in the Surge Concerto series, which shares a universe and themes with the Ar tonelico games while sharing little in terms of plot and setting. The game is divided into 12 main episodes, an epilogue, and 3 additional episodes that focus on side characters. Gameplay itself is split between the simulation segments in which the player interacts with Ion and develops their friendship, and visual novel segments that explore Ion's memories.

Ion is an amnesiac girl who lives in a sealed world, where her only companion is a shopkeeper named Nelico. One day, a strange terminal appears in her room, and though she cannot receive any sound or visuals through it, it does give her a mental connection to the person on the other side. The player is that person, and their Playstation Vita is the tool they use to communicate with Ion. Though she lives on her own schedule and may not always be available to talk to, the more the game is played, the more Ion will try to synchronize her schedule with the player's. The player is able to talk to Ion, ask her to synthesize new items such as clothes, go on dates with her, and dive into her dream world to try recovering her lost memories.

Ion's dream world is heavily damaged, and the player must fix it by using the PS Vita's camera to read bar codes from the real world. Scanned bar codes will create fairy-like creatures called Sharls, which will then work to repair the damaged memories once the player has spent Hymmno Points to make a pact with them. The most efficient way to earn Hymmno Points is through online play, and other online options also exist that allow players to communicate with one another and interact with each others' Sharls.

Once a memory is restored, the player can watch it play out in the form of an uninteractable visual novel. As the memories unfold throughout the game's 12 episodes, Ion and the player will learn more about the planet of Ra Ciela and the important role she had in its history.

Ciel nosurge RE:Incarnation, released a little under a year after the original release, came with the first four episodes and all patches up to that point already on the cartridge, and was also packaged with a voucher to download the fifth episode for free. A set of DLC costumes was also created exclusively for this release, and some user interface changes were made as well. A few months after that, the original version of the game was given a discounted rerelease under the Playstation Vita the Best range.